UK Gravity Enduro Series, Grizedale, 27th - 28th June 2015

Grizedale, it is always with great excitement that I approach any kind of race in the Lake District, the scenery there is nothing less than sensational.

I spent nearly seven hours practicing on the Saturday including my seeding run, most of the riding this weekend was across terrain which had been cut in much earlier in the year. The UKGE guys work tirelessly on these races and they deserve real credit for the great effort creating such challenging stages.

Stage five was the seeding run which led down into the finish arena, it started off with a fast pedal over some freshly cut ground which was a gutsy all out push for the first thirty seconds. From there it progressed rapidly across increasingly technical terrain which included a cool drop into a tight right hander the exit speed of which got you straight up and over a long rooted section.  With no time to rest on your laurels you hit some tight twisting tree-lined turns which then spit you out into a full on pedal towards the finish arena. My seeding run went really well, I came down clean and crossed the line with a huge grin on my face. Awesome!

The sun was doing its best to bake everyone in their full face helmets however this was compensated by the scenery on the climb up from Coniston Water which was magnificent. I was with my good friend Gemma Ingall on the practice loop, riding with someone whilst checking out the stages made it all very sociable.

Race day:

Rain was predicted on Sunday for most of the morning; which was soon proved to be correct when it came down in abundance! This made an already challenging course extra difficult where not only were the stages unpredictable, the climbs were more mentally challenging.

Stage one started with a small drop followed by some tight twists across nice slippery roots where I kept as loose as possible on the bike and was certainly being aided by my Michelin encased Sun-Ringle 27.5" wheels. The fast middle section over some drops saw me miss a line and I wasted time struggling to get back onto the track. The stage concluded with a very slippery rock garden which I thankfully managed to glide over to the finish line, I was relieved to have completed the first stage!

Onwards and upwards, quite literally, to stage two. It was here where I was settling into the race having looked forward to this stage's mud, roots and fire road sprints. I really enjoyed it and had some fun on my Orange Five which was flying with aplomb, despite a little wipe out further down, ahem!

Stage three was rocky with the longest of fire road sprints where I stayed strong and finished well. Stage four saw me take a wrong line at the start and headed into the course tape, which was rather clever, I know! After unpicking myself I got the cadence back down to get some time back. For the last and indeed long transition I employed the ‘This Girl Can’ philosophy keeping a positive frame of mind and started to pedal up to stage five, by this time I had been out on the bike for three hours! Yes, this is one hell of a great bike event and it was here where I was blessed with a vista across Coniston Water, breath taking. 

Arriving safely at the top of the stage with a couple of minutes to spare the rain began to ease off.  I went out on a hard 'all or nothing' push from the start however my fatigue was showing with a couple of silly lines in the loose rocky sections at the bottom.  With that said I crossed the finish line in eighth place completely exhausted but happy.

Robyn

x

Welsh Gravity Enduro Series, Cwmcarn, 21st June 2015

Robyn's in the crib!

It’s been a busy June, I was competing in the Woodhall Spa Triathlon over the 13^th and 14^th and then cruising up to Wales for the third round of the Welsh GravityEnduro Series. Yep, I'm Sporty Spice!

This has really turned out to be a fantastic collection of races so far with many fresh faces coming to the fore. It's a fantastic building block to the National UK Gravity Series and Charlie puts on a great show with some awesome stages!  So far we have ridden Bike Park Wales and Afan, now for the third round we're at the trail centre of Cwmcarn in South Wales. It’s enough to want to make you leave the beaches of the South West!

What was going to be particularly exciting were where each of the timed stages would come out live so you could tell how well you were doing throughout the race. I think there are pros and cons for this. You used to be able to out-psyche your opponents knowing you had done well or by keeping a positive demeanour despite knowing that you may not have had a great time on the previous stage.

Charlie was running a three stage race this time around incorporating parts of the Cafall trail and the Pedalhounds downhill with the final stage taking in the Y Mynydd (The Mountain) downhill trail. The climbs were more challenging here than in previous rounds, we are talking an hour transition and this is something I am more used to with Steve Parr's UK Gravity Series, it means your downhill skills are tested whilst being fatigued. I was literally hanging on to my Burgtec bars hurtling down the Y Mynydd! I will definitely be visiting here again for some more riding in the near future.

I had a great dusty day with no mishaps and took home the second place in Elite.  It’s great to see the women's field growing and how quickly we are all progressing! I will see you all at Grizedale next weekend.

Robyn.

x

One Industries Mini Enduro Round 2, Forest of Dean, 26th April 2015

After a two week long touring bike fest under the gorgeous Spanish sunshine I was excited to be railing my Orange Five through the Forest of Dean's relentless twisting and turning trails with the One Industries Mini Enduro Series.

The race stages were looking full on and challenging in practice, the dry conditions suiting my riding style perfectly. On top of that I had two good friends racing alongside me this weekend as well, Gemma Ingall and Hazel Townsend, we all a great day practising the stages.

Stage one was my favourite, it involved a steep start straight over a fallen tree followed by tight twists and then a steep root-strewn section which lead into a drop at the bottom. I nailed the start but on a sneaky fast line dropped my chain, I’ve become pretty rapid at putting it back so thankfully didn't lose much time.  You need to keep a level head as you can't let these things make an impact on the rest of your runs.  I’m also excited to be race-testing a prototype Rideworks Enduro chainguide soon too, watch this space, good times! 

Stage two felt like the longest with a mixture of fast stretched out pedal-as-hard-as-you-can sections at the top with some rocky berms keeping you in check and a twisty woodland section at the bottom.

Stage three was amazing, I felt like I was flying as my Manitou equipped Orange just soaked up the terrain. We started off on a slight descent where keeping a good cadence up was key, the hardest part was further on where a fresh line had been cut through what I can only describe as a ploughed field!  Despite all of my hard training over winter I really had to keep psyched up for this section, it was hard.  The second half of the trail was sensational though, I really felt like I was flying and my line choice was perfect, well it was until I took a sharp right hand turn too late resulting in me taking the corner on the floor!  It wasn't pretty and the stage is never over until you’ve crossed the finish line, everything in equal measure, ahem!

I was feeling apprehensive on stage four, it was with regards to a long traverse through the forest which went on for a fair while and by this point I was feeling a little fatigued.  Over-psyching myself on the start line resulted in me pushing too hard through the first couple of turns, I took a wrong line and came off the bike. This lost time was made back up with a gutsy push down the straight section towards the end though, move over boys!

Once the times were tallied up I was relieved to take second place in a closely finishing field but also felt frustrated that I didn’t get a run in where I felt a 100%.  With Enduro racing it all needs to come together on the day and I was a little out of the zone for this race.  All of that aside it was great to see so many friendly faces from last season too, I've missed you guys!

Thanks to the organisers, all of the marshals and competitors for making it a top event.  See you all at the next one!

Robyn

x

The Wolftrax bares its teeth.... the Laggan Scottish Enduro Report

Photo copyright of Trevor Worsey

The Seagull has landed, had the small issue of a pesky wedding getting in the way of this race report! Only kidding, for those not in the know I have just tied the knot with the love of my life and fellow Development team rider Angie Foster (nee Coates) and I am typing this up on a road trip through the French Alps which is part of our three-week bike fuelled honeymoon around Europe but more of this on another blog further down the line.

Now let me take you back to Laggan.....

Laggan is nestled inside the Cairngorms National Park, a hidden away but no less picturesque mountainous area of the Scottish Highlands. Having said that, don't let the beautiful panoramic landscapes here deceive you, the No Fuss Events team had pulled it out of the bag with a great technical series of enduro stages combining the trail centre and various black graded routes which contained some of the most gnarly off-camber I've ridden this season, nothing that my Orange Five can't handle mind you. It was quite simply awesome, no two ways about it, every round of the Scottish Enduro has been challenging with their spot-on mix of tracks.  The format for this weekend was a day of practise on the Saturday with full-bore racing across five stages on the Sunday.

Stage 1 was a wickedly, and dare I say evil, well thought through course of pure pedal power which separated the men from the boys, it was being ridden blind and it soon became apparent as to why! I took about 11 minutes along this section, despite it initially railing across technical rock gardens, it moved into technical climbs with deep loam, it was eleven minutes of pure sweat and lactic acid build up! I was swearing at myself, swearing at the course, swearing at my legs but still loved it, it was bloody hard going but I just clicked and got the pedalling down. I've praised my tyres in previous blog reports but honestly they ripped the trail up along here, I'm running Michelin's awesome Wild Rock R2's and really can't fault them, that loam was no match for my 27.5 wheeled beast!

Stage 2 was awesome, the Laggan Black Route, it was a fast and flowing granite city strewn with big rocks to catch out the unwary, my suspension got a full work out down here and I was laughing all the way, this is my kind of riding, absolutely LOVED IT! My Orange Five handled this section with aplomb, it completely came into its own, can we have more of this type of trail please?

Stages 3 and 4 leaned more towards root fests, the best way through was to keep your flow and bounce along taking care on the off-camber sections. I overtook a fair few riders who had over cooked things on the steep sections here, Laggan claimed many victims over the weekend including myself.

Finally Stage 5 was full-on trail centre gravity lead rumble, big berms and jumps in contrast to the previous stages it was now time to just get on it and rail hard. I'd say Stages 3 and 4 were my favourites of the day, both were really steep and very dusty! I crashed near the end of Stage 3 and missed a few of my lines on Stage 4 which pushed me down the standings. Once everything was tallied up I was in 13th place though which I was happy with considering, it was a great weekend and I tip my hat to No Fuss guys, this is part of racing at its best.

After getting back from our Euro jaunt the next race will be the Tour de Ben, a highlight event of our year and I'm looking forward racing that monster. As you may have noticed Angie was sadly absent from this round of the Scottish Enduro as she was away on a work trip in Europe at the time.

See you all on the next mountainside,


Steve.

Redemption...... From Fort William to Innerleithen on the Scottish Enduro Series

Fort William:

When we first heard the news that there was going to be a Scottish Enduro Series that was it, our minds were made up and our Michelin tyres would be full of proper Scottish mud. Neither of us could wait, Scotland is renown for having natural technical and sweet trails with little in the way of that uphill malarkey, the way trails should be! :)

Fort William is one of my favourite places in the world, I’m not sure why, is it the journey up there going through Glencoe?  Is it the excitement of seeing the railway running alongside the West Highland Way that I walked when I was just a wee sprout?  Or probably more the fact that it’s so close to Skye and all the happy memories I have of these places both on two wheels and on foot.

Anyway let’s get to racing!  This was a No Fuss Events organised race and those bad asses know how to put on a bloody good party!  The format was simple; rock up, sign in, grab the bikes and get some practice in, decide what time you want to set off in the morning for your race run with all of your friends (and aiming to beat them, ahem!), take the climbs as they come and smash the hell out of the descents. Booyah! 

(Photo copyright of Dan Gibson)

There were four stages and they were all different, and no word of a lie, they were all amazing; rocks, roots, and ruts, ‘ruts’ you say? Did I mention the ruts? Flipping heck, talk about moto lines, these were insane.  Steve and I finished practice and our grins said it all, we had just ridden some of the sickest tracks ever in UK Enduro racing!

(Photo copyright of Colin Olden)

Fort William is pretty notorious for its rain however I’d say we have been pretty lucky in the past with ‘blue bird’ days here so when it chucked it down all weekend with no let up I wasn’t about to complain, it’s all about keeping the equilibrium you see.  Needless to say the tracks became pretty cut up and you just had to laugh the schadenfreude way with seeing mud covered people upside down in front of you! It was real nice to see Frazer, the organiser, lurking in the undergrowth watching people crash - great spectator spot Frazer!

(Photo copyright of Colin Olden)

(Photo copyright of Colin Olden)

I couldn’t have cared about my result here if I am honest, I know that sounds awful but a weekend of riding those tracks was enough for me, it was fantastic.  I took home a 5thplace and Steve was knocked down to 34th after snapping his chain 10 seconds into his first race run and having to run pretty much the rest of the track, gutted, he was feeling fitter granted but gutted nonetheless!

A brilliant weekend overall, even getting 3 points on my driving license and a £100 speeding fine on the way home couldn’t spoil this one!  Next up is Inners and we’re aiming to get it pinned!

Innerleithen:

'Innerleithen', a name synonymous in the bike community with steep, rock strewn, rooty and dark tight twisty trails, it sure didn't disappoint for round two of the POC Scottish Enduro Series.

Steve and I rocked up the Peebles way at 9am, grabbed a couple of coffees, got our entries and dibbers sorted followed by a quick catch up with our friends, our start times were from 12-noon.  It’s such a nice relaxed format at these races, ride along with your mates in between whilst aiming to kick their arses as you smash through the stages, yes I like that! :)

This time around we had five stages to contend with and yes, it was raining again; track one was a slog to get to and a slog to get down, lots of pedalling from the top of Minch Moor.  Stages two, three and four were all pretty much made up of Innerleithen’s various infamous downhill tracks.  There were some new and incredibly steep root infested sections of the stages that were sick to ride and left you still stuttering after finishing the courses but nothing that my Michelin Wild Rock R2 tyres couldn’t handle, they’re bloody awesome things!

(Photo copyright of Malcolm Porter)

Oh yes, after lowering the front end of my Orange Diva Five I have noticed a massive and positive difference, it’s so much better on steep turns, to the point where people were coming up to me afterwards saying I had the course nailed down!  So to all the ladies out there on Orange Fives, lower the front end a bit if you haven’t already then get out back out there and rail!

(Photo copyright of Ian Linton)

Stage five was a really tough start; in our race runs I held Steve up here because I hadn’t managed to get out of the way in time. He caught me and I rammed him off the track making him crash, whoopsadaisy, sorry Steve! He probably would have made top five if it wasn’t for me, I felt so guilty and was very apologetic to him afterwards.

The casual race format of this series is spot on, you get to choose what time you set off on Sunday. We both chose 11am and had a nice lie in. The later start meant that although the tracks were more chewed up it also meant they were more worn in, taking the riding conditions into account (wet!) this proved to be a bit of a boon, also made the conscious note not to get in Steve’s way this time around!

(Photo copyright of Ian Linton)

Race runs for me went okay apart from stages three and four where my chain kept jamming with the mud being packed into it and where I had to get off and push.  

(Scottish mud? You got it!)

That definitely cost me a whack of time on the flipside though I got joint third place (where there were also two ladies on joint second) so can’t complain too much about that, just didn’t make the podium, damnit!

(Photo copyright of Ian Linton)

Overall another amazing weekend, track’s were out of this world, nothing else comes close, it was a good redemption for my place at Fort William, just sad that that I didn’t get on the podium steps.

Wondering how the others have been getting on with their downhill races now, just popping a ND(H)uro report together for you all, gimme a few.

Angie xx


The Development Racing Team can also be followed on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDevelopmentMTBRacing

The future's bright.....

.... the future's purple....

Bigging up the mighty guys at Orange Mountain Bikes for their amazing support with Steve and Angie this year, Five RS abounds.... they've just gone live with a write on their website, go and have a look: Orange Support The Development Enduro Team

Northern Downhill in enduro mode, the ND(H)uro at Kidland, 20th October 2013

One word for this race..... AMAZEBALLS!!!!!!!!!

Oh my god, where do I start here?  Well, I hadn't been to Kidland since 2010 when Steve and I did one of the Northern Downhill races there, I remember it being a total shocker thinking that I just couldn't ride anymore!  So when I heard that Carl Davison was running his first Enduro event at Kidland I must admit to being a wee bit nervous, and that was before I knew he was planning on running them down the downhill tracks.  Oh my!  For those not in the know, Kidland...... is.... STEEP!

Like the previous Borderline Events' Escape to Gisburn it was a one day event so practice was first thing in the morning with the racing kicking off from 1pm.  There were three tracks, two of them were on the Alwinton downhill tracks and the third was the Kidland downhill track with a slight detour around the steepest bit, phew!  And the best bit?  It had rained solidly all night long so the courses were a grease-fest, lovely and muddy, tyre choice was crucial, I managed to get away with running Maxxis High Rollers, I didn't have any mud specific tyres to hand.

We all made the first pedal up, none of us really knew what to expect so took it easy to start with, all the tracks were pretty similar to be fair, steep and rooty with tight corners.  It felt absolutely mint to be sliding around in the mud with the back end slipping out on roots. The last time I rode my bike tripod-style with my tummy on the seat was at the Megavalanche in the snow and oh my god we were having so much fun here. Full on belly laughs the whole way down.  As we got to the bottom we didn't even need to say anything we just looked at each other with huge grins on our faces, our eyes on stalks and knew we were all loving it. 

For me track three was the best, it was more ridden in and just rode so smoothly, I couldn't wait to race it.  Steve's Yeti was sadly still in bits so he was on his Cotic hardtail again and although everyone was taking the piss out of him for riding a hardtail 29er at Kidland he didn't do too bad and came 8th in the Master category.  I took a 3rd with Helen and Sarah taking the top two steps. 

The Weapons; Sarah Newman, Helen Gaskell and Angie Coates

I really cant wait to ride there again, it's given me a huge amount of motivation to ride steeper and more technical tracks, I can't wait to get the FTW downhill beasty built up to hit some more of it!

See you on the next hill punks,

Angie

xx 

Borderline Events Enduro - Escape to Gisburn, 29th September 2013

Hey guys and gals, it's Angie here again, there's been no time to sit still, 'busy bunny' are my middle names. We've got some amazing news but I can't divulge just yet so keep sitting tight, exciting times are a'coming, I am itching to tell you all however!  Anyway, for now go and grab your cup of coffee and some biscuits here's my report from the Borderline Events, Escape to Gisburn enduro...

After a week of riding around the absolutely drop dead gorgeous West Highlands of Scotland both me and Steve's legs were feeling pretty done in however but we couldn't resist another race so drove all the way from Wick at the top of Scotland to get to Gisburn in North Yorkshire for Mike Marsden's first ever Enduro.  Although I had ridden at Gisburn before Steve had never been and there were some new tracks being built so we thought why the hell not!

The week before in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, absolutely amazing scenery...

It was only a single day event which was pretty cool however we used our time wisely and managed to get a bit of practice in on the Saturday where we met up with the local legend Euan Bruce to show us the tracks.  Steve opted for his hardtail after the bearings on his Yeti blew up, despite stripping it all down in the car park he gave up all hope, so racing on the hardtail it was to be! Hardcore, you know the score!

This Enduro was made up of three stages and they were all fairly pedally but well thought out, it was all pretty good fun, Mike Marsden had done his homework!  Track one was tight and twisty through the trees and over shiny roots, yes, those glossy little buggers that are only there to catch out the unwary. Thankfully I kept it pinned and showed the boys how it's done, there's also something very soothing about the smell of a pine forest, but I best not get all hippy dippy on you all!  

Photo copyright of Lisa Hollifield

Track 2 had a fresh sweet bit cut in which I absolutely loved, it was pretty much a straight line to the fireroad over some jumps and roots, you had to stay on the gas to get through the fast rolling section.  It was here where I had my buddy Peter Tiplady in my sights and made it my mission to chase him down, he got ass-whipped, good times.  Soon afterwards I was feeling the pain of pushing up up a super steep climb, this was rewarded with the awesome trail down through the woods to the finish line. That climb though was a lung buster, I was almost sick at the end of the track, talk about breathing fire!!!  Poor Steve got a puncture on the first whoopy bit of the trail which screwed up his potential podium position, he totally kicked ass on track one taking the first position so understandably he was feeling gutted.  

Photo copyright of Nick Moor

Track 3 was admittedly bit of a slog, which in the same breath was great for Steve on his hardtail who shot off at warp factor 90, I just found it really hard on my legs I suppose it was the previous week in the Highlands coming back to haunt me.  I got cadence going and kept it steady but oh boy I was absolutely knackered when crossing that finish line, I just lay in the grass gasping for breath!

Photo copyright of Nick Moor

Steve got held up on the fire road after a dude in front got in his way which wasn't great but all in all we had fun and will definitely be doing another one of Marsden's races, well done that man!

I took home the 3rd place here, Steve placed 1st on track 1 and 3 but unfortunately the puncture on track 2 let him down. That's racing for you though.

We're both looking forward to the 2014 Borderline Events.

Angie

xx

At last, the new 2013 racing strips are all set....

Been working hard with Brian from The Cycle Jersey to get the team's 2013 racing strips sorted, sadly we had a few delays and a completely incompetent courier company to deal with but we got there in the end......

From the template....

To the finished garments.....

And not forgetting some rather funky road jerseys which will soon be winging their way over to Frank Wadelton in the States.....

In order to get them done in a rush I missed the cut off point to have the team's funky sun-burst d-logo effect added to the panels, rest assured it will be back next year!

Please step forward the team's 2013 sponsors to take a bow:

FTW Industries

Berghaus Outdoor Wear

TF Tuned Suspension

Rock Shox Forks

Ride 100% Goggles

Urge Helmets

Thomson 

Burgtec

Powa Products Dfender Mud Guards

Hayes Components

Sun-Ringle Wheels

Goodridge Hydraulic Hose

SDG Saddles

X-Fusion Shox

Oury Grips

The Cycle Jersey

Tweet